The ancient use of liturgical colors

Contents

EtttrtrtWCttOtt. England, "the island of Saints" : — The beauty and costliness of the ancient Church of England vestments : — The irregularity of the existing Church of England use : — The modern Roman sequence : — " The Durham Book " : — General outline of the work pp. i — 8

Chapter I

Cf)e ancient JHosatC use. The divine command :— Table of the Levitical vestments :- — Josephus upon the linen vestment and girdle : — St. Jerome upon the number of the vestments : — Walafrid Strabo, ditto : — Honorius, ditto : — The Patriarch Symeon, ditto : — The shape of vestments differed in different ages : — The number of the Levitical colours : — The symbolism of number five : — Its influence upon the system of the ancient Church : — The use in the time of Solomon pp. 9 — 17

Chapter II

2Tf)e use in ti)t first centurg. Testimony of Josephus : — The blending of the Old Dispensation into the New : — Crake upon early ritual worship : — Liturgical arrangements of plan in the Early Christian Church : — Liturgical uses of the Early Christian Church : — The vision of the Apocalypse : — The Bishop of Lincoln's notes thereon : — Saint John robed like the Priests of old : — The ancient introit for St. John's Day pp. 18 — 31

Chapter III

£f)e use in ttje second centurg. The persecutions necessitated a simplicity of ritual : — The modern b

VI CONTENTS.

theory refuted, that white was " the colour " of the vestments in the Early Christian Church : — The alleged testimony of St. Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian : — What they allude to : — The modern theory refuted, that the ecclesiastical dress was similar to the civil dress : — Christian art is to be contradistinguished from pagan art : — The ecclesiastical dress, in like degree, is to be contradistinguished from the civil : — Rock upon the toga and pall : — Usage of the Jewish Christians at Pella : — Testimony of Polycrates pp. 32 — 42

Chapter IV

Wtyt use in t|)e t|trtJ centurg. The usage during the great persecutions : — Fleury upon the reserve respecting the Mysteries : — The primitive Liturgies : — Rubric in the divine Liturgy of St. Clement : — The mural paintings in the Catacombs do not depict Eucharistic vestments pp. 43 — 47

Chapter V

Cf)f tt!Se in tt)t fourth centurg. Christianity favoured by the State : — Developments in the externals of Religion : — Testimony of Eusebius of Caesarea : — Testimony of Theodoret : — The same vesture was often used for Baptism as for Holy Communion in the Early Christian Church : — Testimony of St. Jerome pp. 48—53

Chapter VI

Cf)e um W tf)e ftfflj century. The heresiarch Pelagius:— St. Jerome adv. Pelagius :— The use of the purple altar-cloth in the ancient British Church : — Testimony of Gildas :— The traditional use of white vestments at Eastertide: — Bequest of Saint Remigius : — Easter the only season which had its distinctive colour: — Vestments were worn by St. Leo PP. 54—59

CONTENTS. Vll

Chapter VII

Cf)f USC tit tf)C Siltf) Cf nturg. The origin of the use of black in the ecclesiastical system : — Black not used for the sacrificial vestments : — Developments in the use of black : — The Ancient Gallican .fHic. edited by Martene : — The mitre was worn in the ancient British Church : — The vision of St. Samson : — Testimony of St. Gregory the Great : — The signification of the mystic colours both under the Old Dis< pensation and under the New : — St. Gregory of Tours mentions the Abbess who cut up a purple altar-cloth to deck out her niece : — Expositio Brevis Liturgiae Antique : — The scarlet of the Christian Church double-dyed pp. 60—67

Chapter VIII

Cfje anglo-jcaion use in tfje sebentl) eentutg. Our

St. Augustine of Canterbury : — Colour of the archiepiscopal pall : — St. Augustine's revised Liturgy : — Excepting the woollen pall St. Augustine did not introduce any fresh vestments into this country : — The purple chasuble was worn in St. Augustine's time : — The Acts of the fourth Council of Toledo : — The ancient chasuble of St. Regnobert : — The vestments found upon St. Cuthbert : — The controversy about St. Cuthbert's relics : — Baring-Gould upon St. Cuthbert's relics pp. 68 — 80

Chapter IX

ZAyt langlo^ajion use in tfje etgj&tf) eenturg. The

Anglo-Saxons were fond of gay colours in their dress : — The reform in the monastic dress brought about by St. Cuthbert : — The illuminations to the Durham Book : — Origin of the use of green in the system of the ancient Church of England : — Green not used at this period for the sacrificial vestments : — Developments in the use of green : — Testimony of the Ven. Bede : — Purple a favourite colour with

Vlll CONTENTS.

the Anglo-Saxon Clergy : — The mitre worn in the Anglo-Saxon Church : — The testimony of Germanus of Constantinople : — The shape of the chasuble in this age was similar to that worn in still earlier times pp. 81—87

Chapter X

Cfje HnQlo=^a.ron use in tf)e nintf) eenturg. Wala-

frid Strabo upon the sacred vestments : — The vestments in monastic use were based upon the Levitical system, as were those in diocesan use : — The purple pall given by Michael to Pope Benedict III. for St. Peter's at Rome pp. 88 — 91

Chapter XI

Cije anglo-^aion use in tfje Unify eenturg. The 24

copes provided by Abbot Egelric for his Minster : — The chasubles bequeathed by Bishop Theodore : — The chasuble of Saint Oswald : — The vestments provided by Abbot Leoffin for Ely : — The distinction between the episcopal mitre and the abbatical : — " Leofric's Missal " : — The old illuminated ittp. Vesp. A. VIII. Mus. Brit. :— The Benedictional of St. ^Ethelwold pp. 92 — 101

Chapter XII

Cfje anQlo^aion use in tfje elebentf) eenturg. The

old illuminated £&,£. Arundel. 155. Mus. Brit: — The purple altar-palls presented by Bishop Leofric to Exeter : — The illuminated iH^. Lansdown. 431. Mus. Brit. : — The illuminated fH;c. Tiberius. C. VI. Mus. Brit. : — The illuminated itt^>. Cotton. Claudius. A. III. Mus. Brit. : — Rock upon Anglo-Saxon vestments pp. 102 — 106

Chapter XIII

Cfje anglo^Xorman use in tf)e elebentf) eenturn. The

Norman Conquest : — The spoliation and robbery of

CONTENTS. ix

Church property at the Norman Conquest : — Vestments filched by the Conqueror from Ely and Waltham : — Foreign Churchmen came into England to beg for vestments : — Saint Osmund : — The origin of " the Sarum use " : — St. Osmund did not introduce any fresh colours into the Church of England : — St. Osmund's rite does not touch upon the colour of the episcopal vesture : — The Salisbury jfHic. : — De habitu chori per totum annum : — The dress of the Secular Canons : — No sequence of colours in the ancient Sarum use : — Rock upon the shape of the chasuble : — The testimony of Saint Ivo of Chartres : — The colour scarlet typifies charity pp. 107—125

Chapter XIV

€i)e lEnglisf) use in tf)e ttoelftf) century. Neale and Marriott upon the religion of the age : — The influence of the religion of the age on Cistercian art : — The evil influence of the lives of some of the Anglo-Norman Bishops : — The colours green and black used by some Bishops in their Mass vestments : — The illuminated JH^. Calig. A. XIV. Mus. Brit. :— The illuminated M£. 10. A. XIII. Mus. Brit. : — The episcopal mitre of the period : — The illuminated JH£. Nero. C. IV. Mus. Brit. :— The cope presented by Prior Conrad to Canterbury : — The present of vestments from Abbot Robert to Adrian IV pp. 124 — 152

Chapter XV

<Tf)e liEnglisj) use in tlje tfjtrteeuti) mtturp. The germs of infidelity : — The Salisbury inventory : — Bishops wore coloured chasubles, as in the Anglo-Saxon age, even where " the Sarum use " was followed The illuminated JH& -■ A. XXII. Mus. Brit. The illuminated jfH^. Vesp. A. I. Mus. Brit. "Queen Mary's Psalter" : — Innocent III. upon the colour of vestments : — Irregularities in the Church of England system pp. 133 — [46

X CONTENTS.

Chapter XVI

Qli)t 3SnglisI) use in tf)e fourteentf) eenturg. The sacrificial vestments were often made from funeral palls : — Will of John de Warren : — Hardyng upon Richard II.'s funeral : — Palls presented at Bishop Kellow's funeral : — The cloths and veils of Lenten use : — Shrouds for the dead : — The vestments bequeathed by William of Wykeham to Winchester : — Remains of Wykeham's mitre and gloves at New College : — The old vestments at St. John's College, Oxford: — R. de Ormsby's Psalter: — Edward III.'s Psalter pp. 147 — 156

Chapter XVII

&fje SSnglisf) use in tije fit tee ntf) eenturg. " The Bedford Missal" : — The illuminated iH5». Harl. 326, Mus. Brit. :— The illuminated iH£. Nero. D. VII. Mus. Brit.: — The Bassingbourne inventory : — The cloth of gold palls presented at Prince Arthur's funeral pp. 157 — 164

Chapter XVIII

Ws>t ISngltsf) use in tije sixteenth eenturg. Rubric from the Sarum Missal of A.D. 1500 : — The yellow for Confessors' Days an innovation : — The Lincoln inventory of A.D. 1536: — The Benedictional of Bishop Longland : — Inventory of " olde aulbes," St. Martyne's Priorye, Dover : — The Lenten use at St. Frideswide's, at Oxford : — Rock upon the Lenten curtain, &c. : — The Lenten usage of our ancient Church : — The linings of our old English vestments pp. 165 — 175

Chapter XIX

2Tf)e use in tfje time of King dfctotoarti tfje &ixti).

" The ornaments rubric " : — The Lincoln inventory of^.D. 1553: — The raid upon the Lincoln vest-

CONTENTS. XI merits, circa A.D. 1540 : — The commencement of the Reformation movement, with regard to vestments : — The Stanford inventory of A.D. 1553 : — The Edwardine Commissioners : — The green vestments belonged mostly to Cathedrals, few were used in our Parish Churches pp. 176 — 183

Chapter XX

Cfje use in tfje time of J3tsf)0p <£osht. The 30th Canon of A.D. 1603 : — Is the use of the five mystic colours of "the Law" retained in the Reformed Church of England ? — The Auckland inventory : — Bishop Cosin a true Reformer : — The inscription upon his Prayer Book pp. 184 — 192

Chapter XXI

Ci)e modern use of tfje <£i)uref) of 1-vome. The Sequence : — Throughout the Middle Ages the use of Rome differed from that of England : — Rock upon the modern Roman chasuble : — Rock upon the modern Roman stole : — Rock upon the modern Roman archiepiscopal pall : — Rock upon modern Roman burial : — The use at Soissons Cathedral at Eastertide: — The parallel between Ultramontanism and Protestantism pp. 193 — 199

Chapter XXII

Cije modern use of tfjc <£f)uref) of 3£ng(anti. The use of the Church of St. Thomas, Oxford: — The modern Church of England usage : — The use of the black chimere : — The use of the black stole and cassock : — The use of the violet frontal : — The infidelity of the age : — The Sarum use the one best suited to this age : — Table of colours according to Sarum use : — The colour for Christmas Day : — The colour for the Circumcision : — The vestments anciently worn at a funeral : — The use of the scarlet cassock : — The use of the sacerdotal girdle : — The use of orthodox coloured stoles : — Episco-

Xll CONTENTS.

pal robes : — Altar-cloths and frontals : — Our modern embroidery should be of orthodox colour : — Funeral palls pp. 200 — 217

Chapter XXIII

(ftcmcluiston. The Law of God is of more importance than any ordinance of man : — The numerical development in things ecclesiastical : — The testimony of Nature : — Hulme upon the colour of wild flowers : — The harmonies between the spiritual world and the natural : — Vincentius upon the " genuine Catholic" pp. 218—227

$nttabnition.

While engaged in tracing out the influence of the great doctrine of Sacrifice upon the formation and development of the mouldings, &c., of ancient Gothic art, my attention was drawn to the colours of the sacrificial vestments in use in the ancient Church of England. For a time I have put aside the former subject, in order to study and prepare notes upon the latter.

Like everything else that is truly orthodox in the system of the Catholic Church, her use of colours for sacrificial vestments is derived from the use of the ancient Mosaic Church : a use which was instituted, not by man, but, by God Himself.

In olden time, England was called " the island of saints." It was the great orthodoxy of the old Church of England which gained for our country this honourable distinction. Our forefathers were pre-eminently orthodox among the nations of Western Christendom ; and our grand old Liturgies and noble Gothic Churches, as well as all the mystic ritual of our ancient worship, testify to the pure and holy faith they held. If England did not produce Churchmen with mighty intellects, like the Dominican friar St. Thomas Aquinas, she did produce men, who, in saintliness of life, and devotion to the Catholic Faith, were not surpassed in any age or country.

In olden time, the Church of England was also most rich in vestments. The most precious materials that could be procured were used without stint to beautify the earthly sanctuary. Cloth of Tars, and silk of China ; baudekin, ciclatoun, and all other kinds of most beautiful cloth of gold ; samit and satin ; as well as all kinds of most choice and lovely silks ; — these, and other rich fabrics, of mystic ortho-

B

Introduction

dox colours, were sought for by our pious forefathers for the sacrificial vestments of the Clergy. The needle of the embroideress, plied with exquisite skill, added additional lustre to vestments, the very materials of which were often most beautiful. We may infer, indeed, from what has been said upon the subject by old ecclesiastical writers of other countries, that in Anglo-Saxon times there were no vestments in any part of Christendom to compare with ours, in material, in embroidery, or in orthodox colour. But of this more will be said in due course.

In the Catholic-revival now going on in the Church of England, the subject of the colour of the sacrificial dress of the Clergy, and of the vestments of the Altar, does not appear to have received that study and attention which has been devoted to many other things. Hence it is that at the present time the utmost license and irregularity prevails throughout the Church of England. In one church you may find some indescribable colour used, called by the name of " Sarum," which would very much astonish St. Osmund if he could appear among us again ; in another, some green colour, painful to the eye to look upon, as untrue to Nature as to the ancient traditions of our Church. And so on. The error appears to be that we do not look deeply into these matters, as did the old Churchmen. They allowed all individual taste and fancy to be subservient. They went right to the fountain-head, and based their use of colours upon reason ; their reason upon authority ; their authority upon REVELATION.

In the present state of things in the Church of England, it is not altogether surprising that many of her most zealous Clergy fall back upon the authority of the Church of Rome in these matters. But this is to be regretted for many reasons. In the first place, there is a great difference between the ancient Church of England use and the modern Roman use. It is not building up our beloved branch of the Church upon her old foundations to adopt a usage so materially different to that of

INTRODUCTION.

the ancient Church of England, as is that of the modern Roman Church, in this respect. Enough harm has already been done to the Church of England in past centuries, through the introduction of foreign influences and schools of thought, external to her own true system. It would be wise to take warning from the past, and, in this matter, for English Churchmen to stick to their old Church of England colours.

Then again, the modern Church of Rome, in her sequence of colours, is not orthodox. If we apply the triple crucial test of reason, authority, and revelation to that use, it fails as regards the latter. The use of the five Roman colours — red, white, jpgen^violet, and black-)- is consistent enough, as regards reason or common sense ; it is also based upon as good authority, as aught that is comparatively modern can be ; but there the matter rests. It is not supported by revelation : the ancient use of the Church of England was. That is the one great distinction to be drawn between the modern hyper-developed use of the Church of Rome, and the ancient use of the Church of England.

What a grand thought it is, that from the earliest period of her history, right up to the times of the Reformation, aye, and in the early years of the Reformation, our English branch of the Catholic Church maintained in her system the five true sacrificial colours of the one true Church of God upon earth. "There is but one Church of God from the beginning of the world to the end," writes Dr. Wordsworth, the learned Bishop of Lincoln. If, therefore, there is but one Church of God in all time, there must of necessity be certain marks, which, from time immemorial, indicate the true principles of her ritual worship. They are to be met with in the system of our grand old Church of England, — in the colours of her sacrificial vestments, as in all else which affected her holy worship.

The scheme of this work is to prove the truth of this, by evidence extracted from ancient sources.

B 2

7 : ; - - '

- • : ] '. - . : : '. 1 - ■

Ltura

....... . . - ..

INTRODUCTION. ;

place in the British Museum, in order to perceive the high degree of perfection to which the ecclesiastical art of the period was then carried.

It was my privilege, one morning upon the festival of the Ascension, to carefully study the illuminations of this priceless codex. It is most mar- Nell, -.'.sly well written by Bishop Eadfrith, St. Cuthbert's successor in the see of Lindisfarne : and illuminated in the very highest style o\ Anglo- Saxon art by the monk Eth« In refinement, beauty, and accuracy of finish, the writing and illuminations of this /H~. are scarcely surpassed by any jB~. of the middle a.,.-. They are the outie, like our thirteenth-century Gothic art, of a great Catholic revival in the ancient Church of England. The mission of St. Augustine was the origin of the id the rise of the Cistercian order was. perhaps, the gin Fthe < ther.

What mingled feelings of emotion s - the mind airing o\ old illuminated 491&,) which

- now called "the Durham Book." One naturally thinks of the great St. c, to whose menu

tten ; of the holy Churchmen of this land, who so beautifully wrote and illuminated it ; and of the deep veneration in which we know the book was . by the Benedictine monks of Durham all through the middle ages, for the love of God. and ol him ay lay in the shrine alose by.

One thinks also of the dangers and trials to which the Church of England has been exposed since the time it was written, from and amidst ch she has

in and again been sc providentially preserved. And then comes the thought, that God will also assuredly preserve our Church in her present □ - s, and raise her up again to be once more pure and holv, as in the days - St. Cuthbert and the Yen.

The late Anglo-Saxon use. as regards the colours of the sacrificial vestmei ts . Bered in respect

from the early use. It was apparently at this period that the colours e -en and black were first used for

INTRODUCTION.

processional vestments. We find these two colours then used for copes, but not for chasubles. There is a clear distinction to be drawn between the cope and the chasuble. The ritual uses of these two vestments in the ancient Church of England were quite distinct, and remained so until the times of the Reformation. The cope was the processional vestment : the chasuble, the sacrificial. This is the tradition of our Church.

The early Mediaeval use follows the Anglo-Saxon. This period is an important one in the history of the Church of England. The Conquest, although it so disorganized the English Church by the intrusion of foreign divines into her sees and benefices, brought about no material change in the colour of the sacrificial vestments, save that the colours black and green were now no longer used for copes only, but also for chasubles. This was the first decline in the Church of England system. With this exception, the late Anglo-Saxon use was simply retained. We gather this also from St. Osmund's treatise De officiis, of which an ancient ittic. copy is still existing in the Salisbury library. It should be borne in mind, that the early Sarum use was only a development of the Anglo - Saxon. That which we now call by the name of " Sarum" was, therefore, the main stream of Catholic deposit in the mediseval Church, with regard to matters of ritual. And that is the one great reason why it should be most deeply revered by English Churchmen at the present day.

The late Mediaeval use of colours became much disorganized. The five true colours continued indeed to be used, but in addition to them, various other colours, and combinations of colours, crept into use. Innovations gradually crept into the Sarum ritual; other English uses suffered in like degree; and in this respect, as in others, the late mediaeval Church of England became overladen with ritual, and corrupt. There was need of a Reformation ; but the true work of reformation has never yet been thoroughly accomplished. Those, nowadays,

INTRODUCTION.

who use incongruous colours for the vestments of Priest or Altar, are simply perpetuating the errors of the late mediaeval Church.

The early Reformation use follows next in order. We find from old existing inventories, that the five mystic colours of the Law — gold, blue, purple, red, and white — were still used for sacrificial vestments in A.D. 548, " the Second Year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth." Consequently, their use is right and lawful now, in every sense of the word, in the Reformed Church of England.

The use in Bishop Cosin's time is next referred to. This is most important, following so closely upon the 1662 Prayer-Book. We find from an old inventory, that the five mystic colours of the Law, and these five colours only, were re-introduced by Bishop Cosin in the vestments and hangings of the Auckland Chapel, circa A.D. 1668. This of itself is sufficient to indicate the mind of one of our Reformers upon the subject.

The following chapters treat of the modern Roman and modern Church of England uses, with a view to shewing that both these hyper-developed uses are opposed to the ancient traditions of the Church.

The concluding chapter touches upon the testimony of Nature, in the colour of wild flowers, and the like. There is the most perfect accord between the Bible, the ancient ritual use of the Church of England, and the Book of Nature, in this matter. The same most perfect mysticism is observed in one and all. The ancient ritual use of our Church vies, indeed, with the Bible, and the Book of Nature, in bearing witness to the ONE TRUE FAITH.

This is a general outline of the work. Many of the notes upon which it is based were prepared at the British Museum and the Bodleian, from a study of old illuminated manuscripts, and other works, preserved in those libraries. Much information has also been culled from the late Dr. Rock's " Church of our Fathers" ; from the " Monasticon Anglicanum" ; and from the works of other antiquarian writers.

8 INTRODUCTION.

In conclusion, I 'must express my thanks for the courtesy and assistance which I have invariably received from the officials at the British Museum and the Bodleian Library. My best acknowledgments are due also to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, for the loan of his most valuable Anglo-Saxon £&£>., " the Benedictional of St. ^Ethelwold," from which I have been able to obtain some reliable evidence with regard to the Anglo-Saxon use in the tenth century. Also, to the Rev. B. H. Wortham, for the loan of his transcript of the Bassingbourne inventory. Also, to those who assisted me with the translations which are appended to the Latin quotations. I am not a classical scholar, but simply an antiquary ; where, therefore, it has been necessary to allude to a classical author, I have had the assistance of graduates of Oxford and Cambridge.

Following the example set by Mr. Ruskin in the " Fors Clavigera," a wide margin is left to each page to enable notes to be written.

CHAPTER I. ®Ij£ Jtncmtt fftamk M&t

The twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Exodus contains the one Revelation from God to man of the colours of the sacrificial vestments to be worn in His Church upon earth. In every pure age of the Church this one Revelation, made once for all, has materially influenced her holy ritual worship.

In the fifth verse of this chapter, the Divine command is clearly given : "And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen," wherewith to make the vestments for those about to minister in the sacerdotal office. No doubt has ever yet been expressed by any commentator, that the "fine linen" implies other than a white material (*). Thus it is manifest that materials of these five colours were to be used in making the sacrificial vestments, viz. gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and White, — and of these five colours only. And, as if to avoid the possibility of a mistake or misunderstanding upon the subject, the Divine command is again repeated in detail in the sixth verse, and again in the eighth, and again in the fifteenth. — "And they shall make " the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scar- " let, and fine twined.^linen, with cunning work. . . . ft And the curious girctte^of the ephod, which is " upon it, shall be of the same, according to the " work thereof ; even of gold, of blue, and purple, " and scarlet, and fine twined linen. . . . And thou " shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cun- " ning work : after the work of the ephod thou shalt

(l) Josephus and Philo Judaeus I See also the Vest. Christ., p. 7, imply that this material was white. I foot-note 16.

THE ANCIENT MOSAIC USE.

" make it ; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of " scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it."

This repetition of the same command, in the four verses alluded to, shews indeed how great was the importance of making the sacrificial vestments with none other materials and colours than those specified. God's will has been most clearly revealed. It would appear impossible to lay more emphasis upon this ritual command, than is laid in the sacred canon of Scripture ; and it is ordained, as the last verse in the chapter states, as " a statute for ever."

The faithful manner in which Moses and the children of Israel carried out God's will, with regard to the colours of the sacrificial vestments, is referred to in the thirty-ninth chapter of Exodus. This clearly proves the ritual use of the Church of God, B.C. I49i.(2)

We gather from the Bible that the following vestments were worn in the Levitical Church : —

Vwtmmtti.

raom ig

Colour.

The ephod.

The high-priest.

Gold, blue, purple, scarlet, & white.

The girdle.

The high-priest.

Gold, blue, purple, scarlet, & white.

The breastplate.

The high-priest.

Gold, blue, purple, scarlet, & white.

The robe.

The high-priest.

Blue.

The broidered coat.

The high-priest.

White.

The mitre.

The high-priest.

White.

The holy crown.

The high-priest.

Gold, & blue.

The coats.

The priests.

White.

The girdles.

The priests.

Blue,purple,scarlet, & white.

The bonnets.

The priests.

White.

It is somewhat difficult, from the wording of our authorized version of the Bible, to understand the

(2) This is Archbishop Ussher's Chronology. Miss Frere, in her work on "Typical Chronology,"

with a preface by the Bishop of Lincoln, dates the Exodus at B.C. 1436.

THE ANCIENT MOSAIC USE. II

exact number of the sacred vestments. It would appear from the twenty-ninth chapter of Exodus, which gives the Divine command with regard to the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the Priest's office, that the official sacrificial vestments of the High-priest were five in number, to which must be super-added the two forming his headgear, making in all seven, [see verses 5 and 6]. Also, that the official sacrificial vestments of the Priests were three in number, [see verses 8 and 9]. It would appear, therefore, from this chapter, that the linen "breeches" were not looked upon by God as a part of their official vesture ; and I have consequently omitted the mention of this part of the Levitical dress in the foregoing table.